Jeremy Johnson's AIDS/LifeCycle Blog

The kindness of strangers

Wed, 07 May 2008 21:42:00 PST

As of today, I am a quarter of the way to my personal goal of $5,000 and half way to my minimum of $2,500...YAY!!!

In preparing for this ride mentally, physically, and financially there have been many triumphs and also many challenges. One of the things I have been completely unprepared for, however, has been the tremendous outpouring of encouragement and goodwill from places I least expected to find support. This week someone I don't even know made a rather large donation in my name and all of the people I do know who have graciously donated and attended our team fundraising events have really surprised me as well. Thank you all for stepping up to the plate and contributing to the cause!

Last Friday, we packed the house at Hamburger Mary's to raise money for the team and the Dreamgirls gave outstanding performances to show their support. A ton-o-fun was had by all! It's been very cool to see all of the team members pitching in to help each out with whoever has a need. So far as a team we have raised almost $33,000 but still have a long way to go in our fundraising, training, and mentally preparing for the first week of June which is now looming only 24 days away.

But in the midst of my brief but increasingly frequent anxiety attacks, I am reminded of one thing: There is no such thing as strangers, there are just people you haven't met yet.

You never know unless you share...

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:57:00 PST

One of the things I've been struck by as I enroll others in supporting me in my ride is how much HIV/AIDS is not talked about anymore. It's like back in the '80s when the AIDS epidemic first broke, everyone in Hollywood wore red ribbons and all these famous people like Magic Johnson came out as having AIDS, and even if people didn't know anyone affected by the disease, everyone wanted to support it...EVERYONE talked about it! Now no one does.

The funny thing is though, in my soliciting donations, I have found so many people who I never knew have been affected by HIV/AIDS. Today, one of my co-workers told me her dad died of AIDS a few years ago...she said she didn't even know he had it until a couple months after he died. Other people keep telling me they don't know anyone who has been affected by it, but it makes me wonder if they really do and they just don't know it.

I didn't even realize myself until I started talking about it.

Writing a support letter is hard!

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:13:00 PST

UGH!...I mean, YAY! I finally finished my support letter. Honestly, writing this letter is so much more difficult than I ever imagined it would be. As proficient and prolific as a writer as I have been both professionally and personally, I realized that I've never really written a support letter before. It was hard to find a balance between pouring my heart out and sharing too much personal information, between really impacting people with the seriousness of the matter and quoting too many statistics, between making people feel good about giving vs. being a total downer about all the death and suffering in the world.

Hmmm...I guess all that is a perfect illustration for one of the big life lessons god has been teaching me lately: No matter what is happening, good or bad (because both are always constant), you always have a choice in how you view life. Whether we see the glass as being half-full, or half-empty there will always be water in half the glass. Whether we see the economy as good or bad, there will always be positive AND negative factors influencing it simultaneously. Even in the midst of of our sorrow, pain, and loss when dealing with death, there is always joy and happiness with a new birth or marriage. Looking out my window right now I can see that it is cold and snowy, but the tulips and daffodils in my yard are starting to shoot up and the grass is turning green and growing.

No matter what the circumstances, our happiness is not dependant on external factors. And no matter what happens, we always have a choice to do what is right.